Anonymous application wrapping

ABSTRACT

Methods and systems are disclosed for providing approaches to anonymous application wrapping on a mobile device. The methods and systems may include receiving, by a controller service, a request to associate a first application executing on a client device with the controller service, and obtaining, by the controller service, a first application identifier associated with the first application. The methods and systems may also include receiving, by the controller service from an application service, a request for a first service and a conditional application identifier, and configuring, by the controller service and based on the request for the first service, the first application with a second set of one or more policy instructions used to control the first application.

FIELD

Aspects of the disclosure generally relate to computing hardware andcomputer software. In particular, one or more aspects of the disclosurerelate to anonymous application wrapping on a mobile device.

BACKGROUND

Mobile devices have become indispensable in our daily lives. More andmore people are using mobile devices in personal and business settingsfor a variety of purposes. The privacy of users, especially in apersonal setting, is becoming more important in today's society. Currentapplication wrapping techniques associate a wrapped application with anenterprise user account. In addition, policies for the wrappedapplication are delivered primarily or partly based on the identity ofthe user. Thus, with current techniques, a user's identity or useraccount information could be exposed to a rogue application or to anentity to which the user might not want this information provided. Thus,there is a need for people to generate managed applications in ananonymous manner.

SUMMARY

As a general introduction to the subject matter described in more detailbelow, aspects described herein are directed to processing and modifyingan unmanaged application to generate a managed application on a mobiledevice. Aspects described herein are also directed to installing orsaving the generated managed application on that single mobile device.

One or more aspects of the disclosure provide for a method that mayinclude receiving, by a controller service from a client device, arequest to associate a first application executing on the client devicewith the controller service, the controller service being configured tocontrol the first application via one or more policy instructionslocated on the client device and enforced by a mobility managementsystem on the client device, wherein each policy file defines one ormore restrictions enforced on or one or more enablements granted to thefirst application by the mobility management system and obtaining, bythe controller service, a first application identifier associated withthe first application, the first application identifier corresponding toa first set of the one or more policy instructions used to control thefirst application. The method may also include receiving, by thecontroller service from an application service, a request for a firstservice and a conditional application identifier; and responsive to theconditional application identifier matching the first applicationidentifier, configuring, by the controller service and based on therequest for the first service, the first application with a second setof one or more policy instructions used to control the firstapplication.

One or more aspects of the disclosure provide for a system that includesat least one processor; and at least one memory storing instructionsthat, when executed by the at least one processor, cause the system toperform one or more steps. The steps the system may perform may includereceiving, by a controller service from a client device, a request toassociate a first application executing on the client device with thecontroller service, the controller service being configured to controlthe first application via one or more policy instructions stored on theclient device and enforced by a mobility management system on the clientdevice, wherein each policy file defines one or more restrictionsenforced on or one or more enablements granted to the first applicationby the enterprise mobility management system and obtaining, by thecontroller service, a first application identifier associated with thefirst application, the first application identifier corresponding to afirst set of the one or more policy instructions used to control thefirst application. The steps may also include receiving, by thecontroller service from an application service, a request for a firstservice and a conditional application identifier; and responsive to theconditional application identifier matching the first applicationidentifier, configuring, by the controller service and based on therequest for the first service, the first application with a second setof one or more policy instructions used to control the firstapplication.

One or more aspects of the disclosure provide for one or morenon-transitory computer-readable storage media having instructionsstored thereon, that when executed by one or more processors, may causethe one or more processors to perform steps. The steps that the one ormore processors perform may include receiving, by a controller servicefrom a client device, a request to associate a first applicationexecuting on the client device with the controller service, thecontroller service being configured to control the first application viaone or more policy instructions located on the client device andenforced by a mobility management system on the client device, whereineach policy file defines one or more restrictions enforced on or one ormore enablements granted to the first application by the mobilitymanagement system and obtaining, by the controller service, a firstapplication identifier associated with the first application, the firstapplication identifier corresponding to a first set of the one or morepolicy instructions used to control the first application. The steps mayalso include receiving, by the controller service from an applicationservice, a request for a first service and a conditional applicationidentifier; and responsive to the conditional application identifiermatching the first application identifier, configuring, by thecontroller service and based on the request for the first service, thefirst application with a second set of one or more policy instructionsused to control the first application.

These and additional aspects will be appreciated with the benefit of thedisclosures discussed in further detail below.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

A more complete understanding of aspects described herein and theadvantages thereof may be acquired by referring to the followingdescription in consideration of the accompanying drawings, in which likereference numbers indicate like features, and wherein:

FIG. 1 depicts an illustrative computer system architecture that may beused in accordance with one or more illustrative aspects describedherein.

FIG. 2 depicts an illustrative remote-access system architecture thatmay be used in accordance with one or more illustrative aspectsdescribed herein.

FIG. 3 depicts an illustrative enterprise mobility management system.

FIG. 4 depicts another illustrative enterprise mobility managementsystem.

FIG. 5 depicts an illustrative diagram showing an example system inaccordance with one or more features described herein.

FIG. 6 depicts an illustrative flow diagram showing an example processof anonymous application wrapping in accordance with one or morefeatures described herein.

FIG. 7 depicts an illustrative diagram showing an example systemconfiguration in accordance with one or more features described herein.

FIG. 8 depicts an illustrative diagram showing an example systemconfiguration in accordance with one or more features described herein.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

In the following description of the various embodiments, reference ismade to the accompanying drawings identified above and which form a parthereof, and in which is shown by way of illustration various embodimentsin which aspects described herein may be practiced. It is to beunderstood that other embodiments may be utilized and structural andfunctional modifications may be made without departing from the scopedescribed herein. Various aspects are capable of other embodiments andof being practiced or being carried out in various different ways.

As a general introduction to the subject matter described in more detailbelow, aspects described herein are directed towards controlling remoteaccess to resources at an enterprise computing system using managedmobile applications at mobile computing devices. An access manager mayperform a validation process that determines whether a mobileapplication requesting access to enterprise resources has accuratelyidentified itself and has not been subsequently altered afterinstallation at the mobile computing device. In this way, the accessmanager may ensure the mobile application requesting access to theenterprise resource can be trusted and is not attempting to circumventthe security mechanisms used to protect those enterprise resources. As aresult, individuals associated with the enterprise may advantageouslyutilize enterprise resources at their personal mobile devices.

It is to be understood that the phraseology and terminology used hereinare for the purpose of description and should not be regarded aslimiting. Rather, the phrases and terms used herein are to be giventheir broadest interpretation and meaning. The use of “including” and“comprising” and variations thereof is meant to encompass the itemslisted thereafter and equivalents thereof as well as additional itemsand equivalents thereof. The use of the terms “mounted,” “connected,”“coupled,” “positioned,” “engaged” and similar terms, is meant toinclude both direct and indirect mounting, connecting, coupling,positioning and engaging.

Computing Architecture

Computer software, hardware, and networks may be utilized in a varietyof different system environments, including standalone, networked,remote-access (aka, remote desktop), virtualized, and/or cloud-basedenvironments, among others. FIG. 1 illustrates one example of a systemarchitecture and data processing device that may be used to implementone or more illustrative aspects described herein in a standalone and/ornetworked environment. Various network nodes 103, 105, 107, and 109 maybe interconnected via a wide area network (WAN) 101, such as theInternet. Other networks may also or alternatively be used, includingprivate intranets, corporate networks, LANs, metropolitan area networks(MAN) wireless networks, personal networks (PAN), and the like. Network101 is for illustration purposes and may be replaced with fewer oradditional computer networks. A local area network (LAN) may have one ormore of any known LAN topology and may use one or more of a variety ofdifferent protocols, such as Ethernet. Devices 103, 105, 107, 109 andother devices (not shown) may be connected to one or more of thenetworks via twisted pair wires, coaxial cable, fiber optics, radiowaves or other communication media.

The term “network” as used herein and depicted in the drawings refersnot only to systems in which remote storage devices are coupled togethervia one or more communication paths, but also to stand-alone devicesthat may be coupled, from time to time, to such systems that havestorage capability. Consequently, the term “network” includes not only a“physical network” but also a “content network,” which is comprised ofthe data—attributable to a single entity—which resides across allphysical networks.

The components may include data server 103, web server 105, and clientcomputers 107, 109. Data server 103 provides overall access, control andadministration of databases and control software for performing one ormore illustrative aspects describe herein. Data server 103 may beconnected to web server 105 through which users interact with and obtaindata as requested. Alternatively, data server 103 may act as a webserver itself and be directly connected to the Internet. Data server 103may be connected to web server 105 through the network 101 (e.g., theInternet), via direct or indirect connection, or via some other network.Users may interact with the data server 103 using remote computers 107,109, e.g., using a web browser to connect to the data server 103 via oneor more externally exposed web sites hosted by web server 105. Clientcomputers 107, 109 may be used in concert with data server 103 to accessdata stored therein, or may be used for other purposes. For example,from client device 107 a user may access web server 105 using anInternet browser, as is known in the art, or by executing a softwareapplication that communicates with web server 105 and/or data server 103over a computer network (such as the Internet).

Servers and applications may be combined on the same physical machines,and retain separate virtual or logical addresses, or may reside onseparate physical machines. FIG. 1 illustrates just one example of anetwork architecture that may be used, and those of skill in the artwill appreciate that the specific network architecture and dataprocessing devices used may vary, and are secondary to the functionalitythat they provide, as further described herein. For example, servicesprovided by web server 105 and data server 103 may be combined on asingle server.

Each component 103, 105, 107, 109 may be any type of known computer,server, or data processing device. Data server 103, e.g., may include aprocessor 111 controlling overall operation of the rate server 103. Dataserver 103 may further include random access memory (RAM) 113, read onlymemory (ROM) 115, network interface 117, input/output interfaces 119(e.g., keyboard, mouse, display, printer, etc.), and memory 121.Input/output (I/O) 119 may include a variety of interface units anddrives for reading, writing, displaying, and/or printing data or files.Memory 121 may further store operating system software 123 forcontrolling overall operation of the data processing device 103, controllogic 125 for instructing data server 103 to perform aspects describedherein, and other application software 127 providing secondary, support,and/or other functionality which may or might not be used in conjunctionwith aspects described herein. The control logic may also be referred toherein as the data server software 125. Functionality of the data serversoftware may refer to operations or decisions made automatically basedon rules coded into the control logic, made manually by a user providinginput into the system, and/or a combination of automatic processingbased on user input (e.g., queries, data updates, etc.).

Memory 121 may also store data used in performance of one or moreaspects described herein, including a first database 129 and a seconddatabase 131. In some embodiments, the first database may include thesecond database (e.g., as a separate table, report, etc.). That is, theinformation can be stored in a single database, or separated intodifferent logical, virtual, or physical databases, depending on systemdesign. Devices 105, 107, 109 may have similar or different architectureas described with respect to device 103. Those of skill in the art willappreciate that the functionality of data processing device 103 (ordevice 105, 107, 109) as described herein may be spread across multipledata processing devices, for example, to distribute processing loadacross multiple computers, to segregate transactions based on geographiclocation, user access level, quality of service (QoS), etc.

One or more aspects may be embodied in computer-usable or readable dataand/or computer-executable instructions, such as in one or more programmodules, executed by one or more computers or other devices as describedherein. Generally, program modules include routines, programs, objects,components, data structures, etc. that perform particular tasks orimplement particular abstract data types when executed by a processor ina computer or other device. The modules may be written in a source codeprogramming language that is subsequently compiled for execution, or maybe written in a scripting language such as (but not limited to)HyperText Markup Language (HTML) or Extensible Markup Language (XML).The computer executable instructions may be stored on a computerreadable medium such as a nonvolatile storage device. Any suitablecomputer readable storage media may be utilized, including hard disks,CD-ROMs, optical storage devices, magnetic storage devices, and/or anycombination thereof. In addition, various transmission (non-storage)media representing data or events as described herein may be transferredbetween a source and a destination in the form of electromagnetic wavestraveling through signal-conducting media such as metal wires, opticalfibers, and/or wireless transmission media (e.g., air and/or space).Various aspects described herein may be embodied as a method, a dataprocessing system, or a computer program product. Therefore, variousfunctionalities may be embodied in whole or in part in software,firmware and/or hardware or hardware equivalents such as integratedcircuits, field programmable gate arrays (FPGA), and the like.Particular data structures may be used to more effectively implement oneor more aspects described herein, and such data structures arecontemplated within the scope of computer executable instructions andcomputer-usable data described herein.

With further reference to FIG. 2, one or more aspects described hereinmay be implemented in a remote-access environment. FIG. 2 depicts anexample system architecture including a generic computing device 201 inan illustrative computing environment 200 that may be used according toone or more illustrative aspects described herein. Generic computingdevice 201 may be used as a server 206 a in a single-server ormulti-server desktop virtualization system (e.g., a remote access orcloud system) configured to provide virtual machines for client accessdevices. The generic computing device 201 may have a processor 203 forcontrolling overall operation of the server and its associatedcomponents, including RAM 205, ROM 207, I/O module 209, and memory 215.

I/O module 209 may include a mouse, keypad, touch screen, scanner,optical reader, and/or stylus (or other input device(s)) through which auser of generic computing device 201 may provide input, and may alsoinclude one or more of a speaker for providing audio output and a videodisplay device for providing textual, audiovisual, and/or graphicaloutput. Software may be stored within memory 215 and/or other storage toprovide instructions to processor 203 for configuring generic computingdevice 201 into a special purpose computing device in order to performvarious functions as described herein. For example, memory 215 may storesoftware used by the computing device 201, such as an operating system217, application programs 219, and an associated database 221.

Computing device 201 may operate in a networked environment supportingconnections to one or more remote computers, such as terminals 240 (alsoreferred to as client devices). The terminals 240 may be personalcomputers, mobile devices, laptop computers, tablets, or servers thatinclude many or all of the elements described above with respect to thegeneric computing device 103 or 201. The network connections depicted inFIG. 2 include a local area network (LAN) 225 and a wide area network(WAN) 229, but may also include other networks. When used in a LANnetworking environment, computing device 201 may be connected to the LAN225 through a network interface or adapter 223. When used in a WANnetworking environment, computing device 201 may include a modem 227 orother wide area network interface for establishing communications overthe WAN 229, such as computer network 230 (e.g., the Internet). It willbe appreciated that the network connections shown are illustrative andother means of establishing a communications link between the computersmay be used. Computing device 201 and/or terminals 240 may also bemobile terminals (e.g., mobile phones, smartphones, personal digitalassistants (PDAs), notebooks, etc.) including various other components,such as a battery, speaker, and antennas (not shown).

Aspects described herein may also be operational with numerous othergeneral purpose or special purpose computing system environments orconfigurations. Examples of other computing systems, environments,and/or configurations that may be suitable for use with aspectsdescribed herein include, but are not limited to, personal computers,server computers, hand-held or laptop devices, multiprocessor systems,microprocessor-based systems, set top boxes, programmable consumerelectronics, network personal computers (PCs), minicomputers, mainframecomputers, distributed computing environments that include any of theabove systems or devices, and the like.

As shown in FIG. 2, one or more client devices 240 may be incommunication with one or more servers 206 a-206 n (generally referredto herein as “server(s) 206”). In one embodiment, the computingenvironment 200 may include a network appliance installed between theserver(s) 206 and client machine(s) 240. The network appliance maymanage client/server connections, and in some cases can load balanceclient connections amongst a plurality of backend servers 206.

The client machine(s) 240 may in some embodiments be referred to as asingle client machine 240 or a single group of client machines 240,while server(s) 206 may be referred to as a single server 206 or asingle group of servers 206. In one embodiment a single client machine240 communicates with more than one server 206, while in anotherembodiment a single server 206 communicates with more than one clientmachine 240. In yet another embodiment, a single client machine 240communicates with a single server 206.

A client machine 240 can, in some embodiments, be referenced by any oneof the following non-exhaustive terms: client machine(s); client(s);client computer(s); client device(s); client computing device(s); localmachine; remote machine; client node(s); endpoint(s); or endpointnode(s). The server 206, in some embodiments, may be referenced by anyone of the following non-exhaustive terms: server(s), local machine;remote machine; server farm(s), or host computing device(s).

In one embodiment, the client machine 240 may be a virtual machine. Thevirtual machine may be any virtual machine, while in some embodimentsthe virtual machine may be any virtual machine managed by a Type 1 orType 2 hypervisor, for example, a hypervisor developed by CitrixSystems, IBM, VMware, or any other hypervisor. In some aspects, thevirtual machine may be managed by a hypervisor, while in aspects thevirtual machine may be managed by a hypervisor executing on a server 206or a hypervisor executing on a client 240.

Some embodiments include a client device 240 that displays applicationoutput generated by an application remotely executing on a server 206 orother remotely located machine. In these embodiments, the client device240 may execute a virtual machine receiver program or application todisplay the output in an application window, a browser, or other outputwindow. In one example, the application is a desktop, while in otherexamples the application is an application that generates or presents adesktop. A desktop may include a graphical shell providing a userinterface for an instance of an operating system in which local and/orremote applications can be integrated. Applications, as used herein, areprograms that execute after an instance of an operating system (and,optionally, also the desktop) has been loaded.

The server 206, in some embodiments, uses a remote presentation protocolor other program to send data to a thin-client or remote-displayapplication executing on the client to present display output generatedby an application executing on the server 206. The thin-client orremote-display protocol can be any one of the following non-exhaustivelist of protocols: the Independent Computing Architecture (ICA) protocoldeveloped by Citrix Systems, Inc. of Ft. Lauderdale, Fla.; or the RemoteDesktop Protocol (RDP) manufactured by the Microsoft Corporation ofRedmond, Wash.

A remote computing environment may include more than one server 206a-206 n such that the servers 206 a-206 n are logically grouped togetherinto a server farm 206, for example, in a cloud computing environment.The server farm 206 may include servers 206 that are geographicallydispersed while and logically grouped together, or servers 206 that arelocated proximate to each other while logically grouped together.Geographically dispersed servers 206 a-206 n within a server farm 206can, in some embodiments, communicate using a WAN (wide), MAN(metropolitan), or LAN (local), where different geographic regions canbe characterized as: different continents; different regions of acontinent; different countries; different states; different cities;different campuses; different rooms; or any combination of the precedinggeographical locations. In some embodiments the server farm 206 may beadministered as a single entity, while in other embodiments the serverfarm 206 can include multiple server farms.

In some embodiments, a server farm may include servers 206 that executea substantially similar type of operating system platform (e.g.,WINDOWS, UNIX, LINUX, iOS, ANDROID, SYMBIAN, etc.) In other embodiments,server farm 206 may include a first group of one or more servers thatexecute a first type of operating system platform, and a second group ofone or more servers that execute a second type of operating systemplatform.

Server 206 may be configured as any type of server, as needed, e.g., afile server, an application server, a web server, a proxy server, anappliance, a network appliance, a gateway, an application gateway, agateway server, a virtualization server, a deployment server, a SecureSockets Layer (SSL) VPN server, a firewall, a web server, an applicationserver or as a master application server, a server executing an activedirectory, or a server executing an application acceleration programthat provides firewall functionality, application functionality, or loadbalancing functionality. Other server types may also be used.

Some embodiments include a first server 106 a that receives requestsfrom a client machine 240, forwards the request to a second server 106b, and responds to the request generated by the client machine 240 witha response from the second server 106 b. First server 106 a may acquirean enumeration of applications available to the client machine 240 andwell as address information associated with an application server 206hosting an application identified within the enumeration ofapplications. First server 106 a can then present a response to theclient's request using a web interface, and communicate directly withthe client 240 to provide the client 240 with access to an identifiedapplication. One or more clients 240 and/or one or more servers 206 maytransmit data over network 230, e.g., network 101.

FIG. 2 shows a high-level architecture of an illustrative desktopvirtualization system. As shown, the desktop virtualization system maybe single-server or multi-server system, or cloud system, including atleast one virtualization server 206 configured to provide virtualdesktops and/or virtual applications to one or more client accessdevices 240. As used herein, a desktop refers to a graphical environmentor space in which one or more applications may be hosted and/orexecuted. A desktop may include a graphical shell providing a userinterface for an instance of an operating system in which local and/orremote applications can be integrated. Applications may include programsthat execute after an instance of an operating system (and, optionally,also the desktop) has been loaded. Each instance of the operating systemmay be physical (e.g., one operating system per device) or virtual(e.g., many instances of an OS running on a single device). Eachapplication may be executed on a local device, or executed on a remotelylocated device (e.g., remoted).

Enterprise Mobility Management Architecture

FIG. 3 represents an enterprise mobility technical architecture 300 foruse in a BYOD environment. The architecture enables a user of a clientdevice (e.g., mobile device) 302 to both access enterprise or personalresources from a mobile device 302 and use the mobile device 302 forpersonal use. The user may access such enterprise resources 304 orenterprise services 308 using a mobile device 302 that is purchased bythe user or a mobile device 302 that is provided by the enterprise touser. The user may utilize the mobile device 302 for business use onlyor for business and personal use. The mobile device may run an iOSoperating system, and Android operating system, or the like. Theenterprise may choose to implement policies to manage the mobile device302. The policies may be implanted through a firewall or gateway in sucha way that the mobile device may be identified, secured or securityverified, and provided selective or full access to the enterpriseresources. The policies may be mobile device management policies, mobileapplication management policies, mobile data management policies, orsome combination of mobile device, application, and data managementpolicies. A mobile device 304 that is managed through the application ofmobile device management policies may be referred to as an enrolleddevice.

In some embodiments, the operating system of the mobile device may beseparated into a managed partition 310 and an unmanaged partition 312.The managed partition 310 may have policies applied to it to secure theapplications running on and data stored in the managed partition. Theapplications running on the managed partition may be secureapplications. In other embodiments, all applications may execute inaccordance with a set of one or more policy files received separate fromthe application, and which define one or more security parameters,features, resource restrictions, and/or other access controls that areenforced by the mobile device management system when that application isexecuting on the device. By operating in accordance with theirrespective policy file(s), each application may be allowed or restrictedfrom communications with one or more other applications and/orresources, thereby creating a virtual partition. Thus, as used herein, apartition may refer to a physically partitioned portion of memory(physical partition), a logically partitioned portion of memory (logicalpartition), and/or a virtual partition created as a result ofenforcement of one or more policies and/or policy files across multipleapps as described herein (virtual partition). Stated differently, byenforcing policies on managed apps, those apps may be restricted to onlybe able to communicate with other managed apps and trusted enterpriseresources, thereby creating a virtual partition that is impenetrable byunmanaged apps and devices.

The secure applications may be email applications, web browsingapplications, software-as-a-service (SaaS) access applications, WindowsApplication access applications, and the like. The secure applicationsmay be secure native applications 314, secure remote applications 322executed by a secure application launcher 318, virtualizationapplications 326 executed by a secure application launcher 318, and thelike. The secure native applications 314 may be wrapped by a secureapplication wrapper 320. The secure application wrapper 320 may includeintegrated policies that are executed on the mobile device 302 when thesecure native application is executed on the device. The secureapplication wrapper 320 may include meta-data that points the securenative application 314 running on the mobile device 302 to the resourceshosted at the enterprise that the secure native application 314 mayrequire to complete the task requested upon execution of the securenative application 314. The secure remote applications 322 executed by asecure application launcher 318 may be executed within the secureapplication launcher application 318. The virtualization applications326 executed by a secure application launcher 318 may utilize resourceson the mobile device 302, at the enterprise resources 304, and the like.The resources used on the mobile device 302 by the virtualizationapplications 326 executed by a secure application launcher 318 mayinclude user interaction resources, processing resources, and the like.The user interaction resources may be used to collect and transmitkeyboard input, mouse input, camera input, tactile input, audio input,visual input, gesture input, and the like. The processing resources maybe used to present a user interface, process data received from theenterprise resources 304, and the like. The resources used at theenterprise resources 304 by the virtualization applications 326 executedby a secure application launcher 318 may include user interfacegeneration resources, processing resources, and the like. The userinterface generation resources may be used to assemble a user interface,modify a user interface, refresh a user interface, and the like. Theprocessing resources may be used to create information, readinformation, update information, delete information, and the like. Forexample, the virtualization application may record user interactionsassociated with a graphical user interface (GUI) and communicate them toa server application where the server application will use the userinteraction data as an input to the application operating on the server.In this arrangement, an enterprise may elect to maintain the applicationon the server side as well as data, files, etc. associated with theapplication. While an enterprise may elect to “mobilize” someapplications in accordance with the principles herein by securing themfor deployment on the mobile device, this arrangement may also beelected for certain applications. For example, while some applicationsmay be secured for use on the mobile device, others might not beprepared or appropriate for deployment on the mobile device so theenterprise may elect to provide the mobile user access to the unpreparedapplications through virtualization techniques. As another example, theenterprise may have large complex applications with large and complexdata sets (e.g., material resource planning applications) where it wouldbe very difficult, or otherwise undesirable, to customize theapplication for the mobile device so the enterprise may elect to provideaccess to the application through virtualization techniques. As yetanother example, the enterprise may have an application that maintainshighly secured data (e.g., human resources data, customer data,engineering data) that may be deemed by the enterprise as too sensitivefor even the secured mobile environment so the enterprise may elect touse virtualization techniques to permit mobile access to suchapplications and data. An enterprise may elect to provide both fullysecured and fully functional applications on the mobile device as wellas a virtualization application to allow access to applications that aredeemed more properly operated on the server side. In an embodiment, thevirtualization application may store some data, files, etc. on themobile phone in one of the secure storage locations. An enterprise, forexample, may elect to allow certain information to be stored on thephone while not permitting other information.

In connection with the virtualization application, as described herein,the mobile device may have a virtualization application that is designedto present GUIs and then record user interactions with the GUI. Theapplication may communicate the user interactions to the server side tobe used by the server side application as user interactions with theapplication. In response, the application on the server side maytransmit back to the mobile device a new GUI. For example, the new GUImay be a static page, a dynamic page, an animation, or the like, therebyproviding access to remotely located resources.

The secure applications may access data stored in a secure datacontainer 328 in the managed partition 310 of the mobile device. Thedata secured in the secure data container may be accessed by the securewrapped applications 314, applications executed by a secure applicationlauncher 318, virtualization applications 326 executed by a secureapplication launcher 318, and the like. The data stored in the securedata container 328 may include files, databases, and the like. The datastored in the secure data container 328 may include data restricted to aspecific secure application 330, shared among secure applications 332,and the like. Data restricted to a secure application may include securegeneral data 334 and highly secure data 338. Secure general data may usea strong form of encryption such as Advanced Encryption Standard (AES)128-bit encryption or the like, while highly secure data 338 may use avery strong form of encryption such as AES 256-bit encryption. Datastored in the secure data container 328 may be deleted from the deviceupon receipt of a command from the device manager 324. The secureapplications may have a dual-mode option 340. The dual mode option 340may present the user with an option to operate the secured applicationin an unsecured or unmanaged mode. In an unsecured or unmanaged mode,the secure applications may access data stored in an unsecured datacontainer 342 on the unmanaged partition 312 of the mobile device 302.The data stored in an unsecured data container may be personal data 344.The data stored in an unsecured data container 342 may also be accessedby unsecured applications that are running on the unmanaged partition312 of the mobile device 302. The data stored in an unsecured datacontainer 342 may remain on the mobile device 302 when the data storedin the secure data container 328 is deleted from the mobile device 302.An enterprise may want to delete from the mobile device selected or alldata, files, and/or applications owned, licensed or controlled by theenterprise (enterprise data) while leaving or otherwise preservingpersonal data, files, and/or applications owned, licensed or controlledby the user (personal data). This operation may be referred to as aselective wipe. With the enterprise and personal data arranged inaccordance to the aspects described herein, an enterprise may perform aselective wipe.

The mobile device may connect to enterprise resources 304 and enterpriseservices 308 at an enterprise, to the public Internet 348, and the like.The mobile device may connect to enterprise resources 304 and enterpriseservices 308 through virtual private network connections. The virtualprivate network connections, also referred to as microVPN orapplication-specific VPN, may be specific to particular applications350, particular devices, particular secured areas on the mobile device,and the like. For example, each of the wrapped applications in thesecured area of the phone may access enterprise resources through anapplication specific VPN such that access to the VPN would be grantedbased on attributes associated with the application, possibly inconjunction with user or device attribute information. The virtualprivate network connections may carry Microsoft Exchange traffic,Microsoft Active Directory traffic, HyperText Transfer Protocol (HTTP)traffic, HyperText Transfer Protocol Secure (HTTPS) traffic, applicationmanagement traffic, and the like. The virtual private networkconnections may support and enable single-sign-on authenticationprocesses 354. The single-sign-on processes may allow a user to providea single set of authentication credentials, which are then verified byan authentication service 358. The authentication service 358 may thengrant to the user access to multiple enterprise resources 304, withoutrequiring the user to provide authentication credentials to eachindividual enterprise resource 304.

The virtual private network connections may be established and managedby an access gateway 360. The access gateway 360 may include performanceenhancement features that manage, accelerate, and improve the deliveryof enterprise resources 304 to the mobile device 302. The access gatewaymay also re-route traffic from the mobile device 302 to the publicInternet 348, enabling the mobile device 302 to access publiclyavailable and unsecured applications that run on the public Internet348. The mobile device may connect to the access gateway via a transportnetwork 362. The transport network 362 may be a wired network, wirelessnetwork, cloud network, local area network, metropolitan area network,wide area network, public network, private network, and the like.

The enterprise resources 304 may include email servers, file sharingservers, SaaS applications, Web application servers, Windows applicationservers, and the like. Email servers may include Exchange servers, LotusNotes servers, and the like. File sharing servers may include ShareFileservers, and the like. SaaS applications may include Salesforce, and thelike. Windows application servers may include any application serverthat is built to provide applications that are intended to run on alocal Windows operating system, and the like. The enterprise resources304 may be premise-based resources, cloud based resources, and the like.The enterprise resources 304 may be accessed by the mobile device 302directly or through the access gateway 360. The enterprise resources 304may be accessed by the mobile device 302 via a transport network 362.The transport network 362 may be a wired network, wireless network,cloud network, local area network, metropolitan area network, wide areanetwork, public network, private network, and the like.

The enterprise services 308 may include authentication services 358,threat detection services 364, device manager services 324, file sharingservices 368, policy manager services 370, social integration services372, application controller services 374, and the like. Authenticationservices 358 may include user authentication services, deviceauthentication services, application authentication services, dataauthentication services and the like. Authentication services 358 mayuse certificates. The certificates may be stored on the mobile device302, by the enterprise resources 304, and the like. The certificatesstored on the mobile device 302 may be stored in an encrypted locationon the mobile device, the certificate may be temporarily stored on themobile device 302 for use at the time of authentication, and the like.Threat detection services 364 may include intrusion detection services,unauthorized access attempt detection services, and the like.Unauthorized access attempt detection services may include unauthorizedattempts to access devices, applications, data, and the like. Devicemanagement services 324 may include configuration, provisioning,security, support, monitoring, reporting, and decommissioning services.File sharing services 368 may include file management services, filestorage services, file collaboration services, and the like. Policymanager services 370 may include device policy manager services,application policy manager services, data policy manager services, andthe like. Social integration services 372 may include contactintegration services, collaboration services, integration with socialnetworks such as Facebook, Twitter, and LinkedIn, and the like.Application controller services 374 may include management services,provisioning services, deployment services, assignment services,revocation services, wrapping services, and the like.

The enterprise mobility technical architecture 300 may include anapplication store 378. The application store 378 may include unwrappedapplications 380, pre-wrapped applications 382, and the like.Applications may be populated in the application store 378 from theapplication controller 374. The application store 378 may be accessed bythe mobile device 302 through the access gateway 360, through the publicInternet 348, or the like. The application store may be provided with anintuitive and easy to use User Interface.

A software development kit 384 may provide a user the capability tosecure applications selected by the user by wrapping the application asdescribed previously in this description. An application that has beenwrapped using the software development kit 384 may then be madeavailable to the mobile device 302 by populating it in the applicationstore 378 using the application controller 374.

The enterprise mobility technical architecture 300 may include amanagement and analytics capability 388. The management and analyticscapability 388 may provide information related to how resources areused, how often resources are used, and the like. Resources may includedevices, applications, data, and the like. How resources are used mayinclude which devices download which applications, which applicationsaccess which data, and the like. How often resources are used mayinclude how often an application has been downloaded, how many times aspecific set of data has been accessed by an application, and the like.

FIG. 4 is another illustrative enterprise mobility management system400. Some of the components of the mobility management system 300described above with reference to FIG. 3 have been omitted for the sakeof simplicity. The architecture of the system 400 depicted in FIG. 4 issimilar in many respects to the architecture of the system 300 describedabove with reference to FIG. 3 and may include additional features notmentioned above.

In this case, the left hand side represents an enrolled client device(e.g., mobile device) 402 with a client agent 404, which interacts withgateway server 406 (which includes Access Gateway and applicationcontroller functionality) to access various enterprise resources 408 andservices 609 such as Exchange, Sharepoint, public-key infrastructure(PKI) Resources, Kerberos Resources, Certificate Issuance service, asshown on the right hand side above. Although not specifically shown, themobile device 402 may also interact with an enterprise application store(StoreFront) for the selection and downloading of applications.

The client agent 404 acts as the UI (user interface) intermediary forWindows apps/desktops hosted in an Enterprise data center, which areaccessed using the High-Definition User Experience (HDX)/ICA displayremoting protocol. The client agent 404 also supports the installationand management of native applications on the mobile device 402, such asnative iOS or Android applications. For example, the managedapplications 410 (mail, browser, wrapped application) shown in thefigure above are all native applications that execute locally on thedevice. Client agent 404 and application management framework of thisarchitecture act to provide policy driven management capabilities andfeatures such as connectivity and SSO (single sign on) to enterpriseresources/services 408. The client agent 404 handles primary userauthentication to the enterprise, normally to Access Gateway (AG) withSSO to other gateway server components. The client agent 404 obtainspolicies from gateway server 406 to control the behavior of the managedapplications 410 on the mobile device 402.

The Secure interprocess communication (IPC) links 412 between the nativeapplications 410 and client agent 404 represent a management channel,which allows client agent to supply policies to be enforced by theapplication management framework 414 “wrapping” each application. TheIPC channel 412 also allows client agent 404 to supply credential andauthentication information that enables connectivity and SSO toenterprise resources 408. Finally the IPC channel 412 allows theapplication management framework 414 to invoke user interface functionsimplemented by client agent 404, such as online and offlineauthentication.

Communications between the client agent 404 and gateway server 406 areessentially an extension of the management channel from the applicationmanagement framework 414 wrapping each native managed application 410.The application management framework 414 requests policy informationfrom client agent 404, which in turn requests it from gateway server406. The application management framework 414 requests authentication,and client agent 404 logs into the gateway services part of gatewayserver 406 (also known as NetScaler Access Gateway). Client agent 404may also call supporting services on gateway server 406, which mayproduce input material to derive encryption keys for the local datavaults 416, or provide client certificates which may enable directauthentication to PKI protected resources, as more fully explainedbelow.

In more detail, the application management framework 414 “wraps” eachmanaged application 410. This may be incorporated via an explicit buildstep, or via a post-build processing step. The application managementframework 414 may “pair” with client agent 404 on first launch of anapplication 410 to initialize the Secure IPC channel and obtain thepolicy for that application. The application management framework 414may enforce relevant portions of the policy that apply locally, such asthe client agent login dependencies and some of the containment policiesthat restrict how local OS services may be used, or how they mayinteract with the application 410.

The application management framework 414 may use services provided byclient agent 404 over the Secure IPC channel 412 to facilitateauthentication and internal network access. Key management for theprivate and shared data vaults 416 (containers) may be also managed byappropriate interactions between the managed applications 410 and clientagent 404. Vaults 416 may be available only after online authentication,or may be made available after offline authentication if allowed bypolicy. First use of vaults 416 may require online authentication, andoffline access may be limited to at most the policy refresh periodbefore online authentication is again required.

Network access to internal resources may occur directly from individualmanaged applications 410 through Access Gateway 406. The applicationmanagement framework 414 is responsible for orchestrating the networkaccess on behalf of each application 410. Client agent 404 mayfacilitate these network connections by providing suitable time limitedsecondary credentials obtained following online authentication. Multiplemodes of network connection may be used, such as reverse web proxyconnections and end-to-end VPN-style tunnels 418.

The Mail and Browser managed applications 410 have special status andmay make use of facilities that might not be generally available toarbitrary wrapped applications. For example, the Mail application mayuse a special background network access mechanism that allows it toaccess Exchange over an extended period of time without requiring a fullAG logon. The Browser application may use multiple private data vaultsto segregate different kinds of data.

This architecture supports the incorporation of various other securityfeatures. For example, gateway server 406 (including its gatewayservices) in some cases will not need to validate active directory (AD)passwords. It can be left to the discretion of an enterprise whether anAD password is used as an authentication factor for some users in somesituations. Different authentication methods may be used if a user isonline or offline (i.e., connected or not connected to a network).

Step up authentication is a feature wherein gateway server 406 mayidentify managed native applications 410 that are allowed to have accessto highly classified data requiring strong authentication, and ensurethat access to these applications is only permitted after performingappropriate authentication, even if this means a re-authentication isrequired by the user after a prior weaker level of login.

Another security feature of this solution is the encryption of the datavaults 416 (containers) on the mobile device 402. The vaults 416 may beencrypted so that all on-device data including files, databases, andconfigurations are protected. For on-line vaults, the keys may be storedon the server (gateway server 406), and for off-line vaults, a localcopy of the keys may be protected by a user password or biometricvalidation. When data is stored locally on the device 402 in the securecontainer 416, it is preferred that a minimum of AES 256 encryptionalgorithm be utilized.

Other secure container features may also be implemented. For example, alogging feature may be included, wherein all security events happeninginside an application 410 are logged and reported to the backend. Datawiping may be supported, such as if the application 410 detectstampering, associated encryption keys may be written over with randomdata, leaving no hint on the file system that user data was destroyed.Screenshot protection is another feature, where an application mayprevent any data from being stored in screenshots. For example, the keywindow's hidden property may be set to YES. This may cause whatevercontent is currently displayed on the screen to be hidden, resulting ina blank screenshot where any content would normally reside.

Local data transfer may be prevented, such as by preventing any datafrom being locally transferred outside the application container, e.g.,by copying it or sending it to an external application. A keyboard cachefeature may operate to disable the autocorrect functionality forsensitive text fields. SSL certificate validation may be operable so theapplication specifically validates the server SSL certificate instead ofit being stored in the keychain. An encryption key generation featuremay be used such that the key used to encrypt data on the device isgenerated using a passphrase or biometric data supplied by the user (ifoffline access is required). It may be XORed with another key randomlygenerated and stored on the server side if offline access is notrequired. Key Derivation functions may operate such that keys generatedfrom the user password use KDFs (key derivation functions, notablyPassword-Based Key Derivation Function 2 (PBKDF2)) rather than creatinga cryptographic hash of it. The latter makes a key susceptible to bruteforce or dictionary attacks.

Further, one or more initialization vectors may be used in encryptionmethods. An initialization vector will cause multiple copies of the sameencrypted data to yield different cipher text output, preventing bothreplay and cryptanalytic attacks. This will also prevent an attackerfrom decrypting any data even with a stolen encryption key if thespecific initialization vector used to encrypt the data is not known.Further, authentication then decryption may be used, wherein applicationdata is decrypted only after the user has authenticated within theapplication. Another feature may relate to sensitive data in memory,which may be kept in memory (and not in disk) only when it's needed. Forexample, login credentials may be wiped from memory after login, andencryption keys and other data inside objective-C instance variables arenot stored, as they may be easily referenced. Instead, memory may bemanually allocated for these.

An inactivity timeout may be implemented, wherein after a policy-definedperiod of inactivity, a user session is terminated.

Data leakage from the application management framework 414 may beprevented in other ways. For example, when an application 410 is put inthe background, the memory may be cleared after a predetermined(configurable) time period. When backgrounded, a snapshot may be takenof the last displayed screen of the application to fasten theforegrounding process. The screenshot may contain confidential data andhence should be cleared.

Another security feature relates to the use of an OTP (one timepassword) 420 without the use of an AD (active directory) 422 passwordfor access to one or more applications. In some cases, some users do notknow (or are not permitted to know) their AD password, so these usersmay authenticate using an OTP 420 such as by using a hardware OTP systemlike SecurID (OTPs may be provided by different vendors also, such asEntrust or Gemalto). In some cases, after a user authenticates with auser ID, a text is sent to the user with an OTP 420. In some cases, thismay be implemented only for online use, with a prompt being a singlefield.

An offline password may be implemented for offline authentication forthose applications 410 for which offline use is permitted via enterprisepolicy. For example, an enterprise may want StoreFront to be accessed inthis manner. In this case, the client agent 404 may require the user toset a custom offline password and the AD password is not used. Gatewayserver 406 may provide policies to control and enforce passwordstandards with respect to the minimum length, character classcomposition, and age of passwords, such as described by the standardWindows Server password complexity requirements, although theserequirements may be modified.

Another feature relates to the enablement of a client side certificatefor certain applications 410 as secondary credentials (for the purposeof accessing PKI protected web resources via the application managementframework micro VPN feature). For example, an application may utilizesuch a certificate. In this case, certificate-based authentication usingActiveSync protocol may be supported, wherein a certificate from theclient agent 404 may be retrieved by gateway server 406 and used in akeychain. Each managed application may have one associated clientcertificate, identified by a label that is defined in gateway server406.

Gateway server 406 may interact with an Enterprise special purpose webservice to support the issuance of client certificates to allow relevantmanaged applications to authenticate to internal PKI protectedresources.

The client agent 404 and the application management framework 414 may beenhanced to support obtaining and using client certificates forauthentication to internal PKI protected network resources. More thanone certificate may be supported, such as to match various levels ofsecurity and/or separation requirements. The certificates may be used bythe Mail and Browser managed applications, and ultimately by arbitrarywrapped applications (provided those applications use web service stylecommunication patterns where it is reasonable for the applicationmanagement framework to mediate HTTPS requests).

Application management client certificate support on iOS may rely onimporting a public-key cryptography standards (PKCS) 12 BLOB (BinaryLarge Object) into the iOS keychain in each managed application for eachperiod of use. Application management framework client certificatesupport may use a HTTPS implementation with private in-memory keystorage. The client certificate will never be present in the iOSkeychain and will not be persisted except potentially in “online-only”data value that is strongly protected.

Mutual SSL may also be implemented to provide additional security byrequiring that a mobile device 402 is authenticated to the enterprise,and vice versa. Virtual smart cards for authentication to gateway server406 may also be implemented.

Both limited and full Kerberos support may be additional features. Thefull support feature relates to an ability to do full Kerberos login toActive Directory (AD) 422, using an AD password or trusted clientcertificate, and obtain Kerberos service tickets to respond to HTTPNegotiate authentication challenges. The limited support feature relatesto constrained delegation in Citrix Access Gateway Enterprise Edition(AGEE), where AGEE supports invoking Kerberos protocol transition so itcan obtain and use Kerberos service tickets (subject to constraineddelegation) in response to HTTP Negotiate authentication challenges.This mechanism works in reverse web proxy (aka corporate virtual privatenetwork (CVPN)) mode, and when HTTP (but not HTTPS) connections areproxied in VPN and MicroVPN mode.

Another feature relates to application container locking and wiping,which may automatically occur upon jail-break or rooting detections, andoccur as a pushed command from administration console, and may include aremote wipe functionality even when an application 410 is not running.

A multi-site architecture or configuration of enterprise applicationstore and an application controller may be supported that allows usersto be service from one of several different locations in case offailure.

In some cases, managed applications 410 may be allowed to access acertificate and private key via an API (example OpenSSL). Trustedmanaged applications 410 of an enterprise may be allowed to performspecific Public Key operations with an application's client certificateand private key. Various use cases may be identified and treatedaccordingly, such as when an application behaves like a browser and nocertificate access is required, when an application reads a certificatefor “who am I,” when an application uses the certificate to build asecure session token, and when an application uses private keys fordigital signing of important data (e.g. transaction log) or fortemporary data encryption.

Anonymous Application Wrapping

One or more disclosed aspects may provide for anonymous applicationwrapping. For example, one or more disclosed aspects may includeapplications that may be wrapped like an enterprise application but thewrapping process may associate the wrapped application with a particularuser or a particular device (e.g., user identifying information).Disclosed aspects may be used by the general population of users inaddition to just users associated with an enterprise. For example,customers that might not be associated with or employed by an enterprisemay be able to use the disclosed applications (e.g., wrappedapplications) in accordance with one or more features described herein.Disclosed aspects may allow one or more policies (e.g., similar to orthe same as mobile device management (MDM) policies) to be enforced on awrapped application, but might not require knowledge of individual users(e.g., user accounts, identifying information, etc.).

One or more disclosed aspects may include the ability to enable accessto protected resources (e.g., intranet resources), such as web services.According to some aspects, this access may be controlled by anapplication level policy (e.g., application X may access service Y).According to some aspects, this access may be controlled by otherfactors, such as an application instance being associated with a levelof service. For example, in banking application, an application instancemay be associated with a level of service (e.g., silver/lower level,gold/middle level, platinum/upper level, and the like). In anotherexample, an application instance may be associated with having to pay afee for a particular service (e.g., paying a fee for account overdraft,etc.).

One or more disclosed aspects may include the ability to selectivelylock or wipe application data. For example, in a banking application,the banking application may be revoked and/or have the data wiped if anassociated customer account was in poor standing or the device wasreported lost. According to some aspects, an application serviceassociated with the application or the associated bank may send thisrequest to a controller service, and then the controller service maysend this wipe instruction or policy to the client device executing thebanking application.

One or more disclosed aspects may include the ability to encrypt datafor an application. This encryption may be performed based on anonymousor partially anonymous information. According to some aspects, thisanonymous or partially anonymous information may be provided by acontrolling server (e.g., a controller). According to some aspects, theencryption may be performed by an application wrapper.

Disclosed aspects may include managing a plurality of applications on asingle device. According to some aspects, an application service (e.g.,a bank service) might not know that two applications are on the samedevice, as this may be a violation of privacy. For example, if a userinstalls an application for a first bank and an application for a secondbank on a device, the banks (and associated applications) might not haveknowledge of each other. Disclosed aspects address the situation wherethe user may wish for the applications to have knowledge of each other.

FIG. 5 is an illustrative system 500 that may implement one or morefeatures described herein. According to some aspects, system 500 may bea mobility management system, which may be a system configured formanaging mobile applications or devices via application management bywrapping and/or intercepting calls made by an application. Components ofthe system 500 may be similar to or may be the components of FIGS. 1-4.System 500 may include a wrapped or managed application 502, which maybe similar to or may be the managed application 410. Managed application502 may be located on and/or execute on a computing device, such as amobile device, which may be the terminal 240, the client device 302, orthe enrolled mobile device 402. According to some aspects, theapplication 502 may be a single instance of a particular type ofapplication (e.g., a banking application). For example, if 100 mobiledevices each execute its own instance of a banking application, themanaged application 502 may be just one instance of this bankingapplication, which may be identified distinctly from other instances ofthe banking application executing on the other mobile devices. Themanaged application 502 may be associated with a wrapper 506, which maybe similar to or may be the wrapper 320. According to some aspects, thewrapper 506 may be part of the managed application 502 or may beindependent and/or external to the managed application 502. The managedapplication 502 may include a memory or storage 508. According to someaspects, the storage 508 may be an encrypted storage 508. System 500 mayalso include a gateway 510, which may be similar to or may be thegateway 360. System 500 may also include a controller 512, which may besimilar to or may be the app controller 374 and may communicate with adatabase 514. The controller 512 may be a controlling service or serverthat may control the operation of the managed application 502. Thedatabase 514 may store identifications of application instances and oneor more corresponding properties for the application instances (thiswill be described below in more detail). System 500 may also include anapplication services server or module 516, which may communicate with adatabase 518. The database 518 may store user identification informationand one or more corresponding identifications of application instances.According to some aspects, the components of the system 500 may interactor communicate with other components of the system 500 (e.g., asillustrated in FIG. 5 with arrows). Such communications may be, forexample, API calls, etc.

FIG. 6 is an example communication flow process 600 illustrating one ormore features described herein. Process 600 may be performed by one ormore of the computing devices or components disclosed in FIGS. 1-5. Forexample, process 600 may be implemented by the managed application 502,wrapper 506, storage 508, gateway 510, controller 512, database 514,application services module 516, and/or the database 518, as well asother disclosed components or devices. In one or more embodiments, theprocess 600 illustrated in FIG. 6 and/or one or more steps thereof maybe performed by any device or component(s) of FIGS. 1-5. In otherembodiments, the process illustrated in FIG. 6 and/or one or more stepsthereof may be embodied in computer-executable instructions that arestored in a computer-readable medium, such as a non-transitorycomputer-readable memory. The steps in this flow process 600 need notall be performed in the order specified and some steps may be omittedand/or changed in order.

Process 600 may describe an approach where an application instance mayassociate with a controller 512 that manages application instances onbehalf of a service provider (e.g., the application services 516). Forexample, the service provider may be a bank or some other entity orcompany. According to some aspects, there may be a plurality ofcontrollers 512, a plurality of applications 502, and/or a plurality ofapplication instances.

Process 600 may begin at step 602, where the application 502 maytransmit (e.g., via an API call) an identification of a controller 512to the wrapper 506. The identification may be a location or address ofthe controller 512. According to some aspects, there may be more thanone controller 512. According to some aspects, the identification of thecontroller 512 may be inserted into the application 502 before, during,or after the wrapping process. For example, a user may download orinstall a generic banking application. The generic banking applicationmay allow the user to select a bank from a list of banks, a level ofservice (e.g., silver, gold, platinum), and the like. According to oneor more aspects, the application 502 (or other component describedherein) may identify a controller (and location, etc.) based on theuser's selection, and the API may be used to indicate that controllerlocation. For example, if the user selects bank A from the list ofbanks, then the API may identify controller A. If the user selects bankB from the list of banks, then the API may identify controller B. Inanother example, if the user selects silver service, then the API mayidentify controller C. If the user selects platinum service, then theAPI may identify controller D.

At step 604, after the wrapper 506 receives the identification of thecontroller 512, the wrapper may send an enrollment request to thecontroller 512 using the location or identification information of thecontroller 512. The enrollment request may be a request for wrapping theapplication 502. According to some aspects, the enrollment request mayalso include any other information, such as a level of service (e.g.,silver, gold, platinum), and the like.

At step 606, after receiving the enrollment request from the wrapper506, the controller 512 may enroll the application 502 or otherwiseassociate the application 502 with the controller 512. According to someaspects, the controller 512 might not make a device level association(e.g., might not associate with the device that the application 502 islocated), but may associate an application instance for the application502. According to some aspects, the controller 502 may generate and/orassign an identifier to the application instance. For example, thecontroller may assign application instance #567 to the bankingapplication. In some embodiments, the controller 512 may save or storean application identifier in a database 514. For example, the controllermay store in the database 514 that application instance #567 maycorrespond to a gold level banking application and thus may associategold level banking policies with the application instance #567. Thus,according to some aspects, whenever the controller 512 retrieves theapplication instance #567 entry from the database 514 (or otherwiseretrieves the application instance #567), the controller 512 maydetermine the policies or properties associated with or corresponding tothe application instance #567. According to some aspects, the controller512 may generate application identifier (e.g., the application instancenumber). According to some aspects, the application 502 may generate theapplication identifier (e.g., and may send the identifier to thecontroller 512). According to some aspects, another component or entitymay generate the application identifier.

The controller 502 may use the application identifier for subsequentuses and at later times, such as to retrieve one or more policies (e.g.,policy files, policy instructions, etc.) used in the management of anapplication that may correspond to the application identifier (whichwill be described below in more detail). The controller 512 maydetermine, assign, and/or generate the identifier via a number ofdifferent ways. For example, the identifiers may be assigned on afirst-come/first-served basis. The identifiers may be assigned randomly.According to some aspects, the identifier may be based on one or moreselections made by the user prior to enrollment. For example, a goldlevel banking association may be assigned a particular identifier, whilea silver level banking association may be assigned a differentidentifier. According to some aspects, the controller 512 may generate aclient certificate that may identify the application instance. Forexample, the controller 512 may store of pre-generated certificates andmay associate or provide the certificates on a first-come basis.According to some aspects, a second application may associate with thissame controller 512 or a different controller. In the case where thesecond application may associate with the same control 512, thecontroller 512 may treat each application separately. According to someaspects, where the second application might be located on the sameclient device as the first application, the controller 512 may treat thetwo applications in a joint manner, which will be discussed below inmore detail.

At step 608, the controller 512 may transmit the application identifier(e.g., applicant instance number) to the wrapper 506. According to someaspects, the controller 512 may transmit other information to thewrapper 506. For example, the controller may transmit securityinformation, such as authentication information (e.g., certificates),that may be used by the application 502 to access services via a gateway510.

At step 610, the wrapper 506 may transmit the application identifier(and any other information) to the application 502.

At step 612, after receiving the application identifier and any otherinformation, the application 502 may now be enrolled or wrapped. Postenrollment, the controller 512 may send policies or otherwise configurethe application 502. For example, the controller 512 may send a policythat may enable encrypted storage (e.g., via the storage 508). Inanother example, the controller 512 may enable the application for microVPN access to certain servers. In another example, the controller 512may transmit policies in accordance with a level of service (e.g.,silver level service, etc.).

At step 614, the application 502 may request a service (e.g., a bankingservice, an updated level of service from silver level to gold level,etc.) and may transmit the request, application identifier, and anyauthentication information to the gateway 510. According to someaspects, the application 502 may send this request and information to agateway 510. According to some aspects, the application 502 may send theauthentication information that may have been provided by the controller512 or other authentication information or credentials. In some cases,the gateway 510 may request authentication information from a user(e.g., interactively request this information).

At step 616, after authenticating the application 502, the gateway 510may then transmit the information received in step 614 (e.g.,authorization information, application identifier, etc.) to theapplication services 516 (e.g., the service that the application 502requested). In some cases, the application 502 may request informationfrom a user, such as credentials, user account information, paymentdetails, and the like. According to some aspects, there might not be agateway 510. In such cases, the application 502 may communicate directlywith the application services 516.

At step 618, the application services 516 may receive the applicationidentifier, the request, and any other information. According to someaspects, the application services 516 might not know the user identity,such as in an anonymous system (e.g., purely anonymous). Anonymoussystems may include applications that may require uniform service (e.g.,no user level tiers or discrimination required) or to applications thatmay require tied service based on one or more external factors, such asa payment. According to some aspects, in such anonymous systems,individual actions, such as application wipe, may still be deployedprovided that the application identity may be recovered. This situationmay apply when an application provides the user with information to berevealed at a subsequent time if the device is lost.

At step 620, the application services 516 may communicate with thecontroller 512 (e.g., via an API call) and may transmit the receivedapplication instance to the controller 512.

At step 622, the controller 512 may then determine whether the receivedapplication identifier matches an application identifier that thecontroller 512 previously associated with an application. According tosome aspects, the controller 516 may make this determination byinspecting the database 514 to determine whether the applicationinstance exists, and if it does, what properties (e.g., managedapplication policies, etc) are associated that instance. For example, atstep 606, the controller 512 may have assigned an application instance#567 to the banking application 502. After determining that there is amatch between the application instance number received from theapplication services 516 and the entry in the database, the controller512 may determine that application instance #567 may be associated witha platinum account, and therefore may have access to services that asilver account might not have. For example, the application services 516(at step 620) may determine that the application is a platinum customer(e.g., via database 518) and may communicate to the controller 512 thata stronger encryption may be needed for the application 502. Thecontroller 512 might not know who the user is or might not know any useridentifying information, but the controller 512 may know that thereneeds to be a different level policy for this application instancecompared to other application instances (e.g., based on matching theapplication instance with an entry in the database 514). An examplesituation where this may apply may be where a user uses a credit card topay for platinum status, and the enterprise might not want a link to theuser identity because of privacy issues. Thus, the controller 512 maydetermine the level of policy based on the received applicationidentifier. In another example, at a later time, the controller 512 maydetermine that the application 502 should be wiped, such as in responseto a device being reported lost or stolen. In such a case, thecontroller 512 may communicate with the application 502 or the clientdevice, and may send an instruction to wipe the application 502 from theclient device.

At step 624, the controller 512 may then send or transmit to theapplication 502 any properties or otherwise configure the application502 (e.g., manage the wrapped application 502) based on whether theapplication instance matches a database entry. According to someaspects, the controller 512 may return other information to theapplication services 516 (e.g., level of service such as silver, gold,platinum, etc.) According to some aspects, the application services 516may at any time adjust one or more properties that may correspond to(e.g., stored against) an application identity by calling the controller512. For example, a user may use the application 502 to call theapplication services 516 to upgrade the user's account to platinum. Inanother example, a user's previous payment may expire, which may leadthe application services 516 to downgrade the user (e.g., theapplication identity) back to a lower level (e.g., silver).

At step 626, the application services 516 may provide services (e.g.,banking services, etc.) to the application based on an identification ofthe user or device. The process 600 may end after any step.

Disclosed embodiments may allow for the change of a classification of anapplication instance, such that the policies, access paths, and anyother mechanisms that may be controlled by the wrapper 506 may beupdated by the controller 512. For example, the controller 512 may markan application as a platinum member. This feature may allow theapplication services 516 to control or otherwise provide services to theapplication 502 or application instance. This feature may also result inaccess to additional services being permitted or additional protectioncapabilities being enabled or disabled.

Disclosed embodiments may allow for the locking or wiping of theapplication instance (e.g., in response to a device being reported aslost). In such a situation, an external service or a database (e.g.,database 518) may be used to remember or store the devices and/orapplication instances belonging to a particular customer or user.

Disclosed embodiments maybe used to gather diagnostic information for aparticular device. For example, a helpdesk may wish to gatherinformation of a particular device and may use a communication APIbetween the application services 516 and the controller 512. Accordingto some aspects, a self-help capability may be built into an application502 and may lead to an API call between the application 502 and thewrapper 506.

FIGS. 7 and 8 illustrate two example system diagrams implementingmultiple applications in accordance with one or more features describedherein. Disclosed aspects may include multiple applications runningcooperatively on a client device. According to some aspects, differentapplication identities (or other identifying information) may bereconciled so that two or more application instances on a client device(e.g., two or more applications executing on a client device may share asingle identity or may function as a single unit (as shown in FIG. 7).According to some aspects, each application may retain a unique identity(e.g., unique application instances), and a controller may separatelyassociate with each application identity (as shown in FIG. 8).

For example, a client device may execute a suite of applications 502that may include an application for the user's checking account, anapplication for the user's stocks, an application for the user'sinsurance, and the like. If, for example, there is a need to wipe orlock the applications 502 on the client device (e.g., losing the clientdevice, etc.), then disclosed embodiments present a convenient way ofmanaging a plurality of the applications 502 on the client device as aunit. Thus, a controller 502 may be able to wipe and/or lock a pluralityof applications without, for example, the user entering authenticationinformation (e.g., PIN, login, etc.) for each application that may needto be locked or wiped. Thus, disclosed aspects may enable a user to loginto a first application 502 and then sign into other applications viathe first application 502.

According to some aspects, various communication mechanisms may be usedto allow an application 502 on a client device to discover otherapplications 502 on that client device. In some cases, an application502 (or other component) may make the application 502's presence hard todetect by other applications 502 and other components. Disclosedembodiments allow different applications that may be cooperating witheach other to discover the other's identity but also may prevent rogueand/or unrelated applications from discovering other applications on theclient device.

FIG. 7 illustrates an example system diagram 700 showing a secondapplication 502 b joining a first application 502 a for enrolling with acontroller 512. The first application 502 a may have previously enrolled(e.g., via the process 600) with the controller 512. Thus, thecontroller 512 may associate with and/or manage the first application502 a. In such a case as in FIG. 7, the second application 502 b maydiscover that the first application 502 a is on the same device prior tothe enrollment of the second application 502 b. As an alternative to thesecond application 502 b undergoing enrollment by itself (e.g., via theprocess 600), the second application 502 b may inform the firstapplication 502 a to enroll the second application 502 b on behalf ofthe second application 502 b. Thus, the second application 502 b mayinform the first application 502 a that the second application 502 b ispresent on the device and may instruct the first application 502 a tocontract the controller 512 so that the controller 512 may enroll thesecond application (e.g., generate or assign an application identifierto the second application 502 b, which may the same or differentapplication identifier as the first application). In one example, FIG. 7may illustrate a situation where a user may be able to add a secondapplication to an existing account with minimal risk that an associatedidentity (and any user data) may be exposed to a third party. Thus, auser may log in to multiple applications by logging into a firstapplication due to the sharing of data between these trustedapplications. For example, a user may wish to go into a checking account(e.g., a first application) and move some money into a brokerage account(e.g., a second application) from that checking account. This processmay involve these two applications communicating with each other. Thisprocess may also involve only one application instance being associatedwith both applications. Thus, when a user logs into the checking accountvia the first managed application, the user may also log into thebrokerage account via the second managed application.

According to some aspects, the first application 502 a might not havepreviously enrolled with the controller 512 but may be on the verge ofenrolling with the control 512. In such a case, the second application502 b may inform the first application 502 a that the second application502 b is present on the application. The first application 502 a maythen proceed to associate both of the applications with the controller512.

FIG. 8 illustrates an example system diagram 800 showing a firstapplication 502 a and a second application 502 b enrolling with one ormore controllers (controllers 512 a and 512 b), which may be the same asor similar to the controller 512. As shown in FIG. 8, the secondapplication 502 b may detect that the first application 502 a may bepresent on the same device, but the second application 502 b might notallow the first application 502 a to enroll the second application 502 bon behalf of the second application 502 b. For example, if the firstapplication 502 a is a general purpose banking application that may beassociated with several different banks and the second application 502 bis a banking application for a particular Bank B, the second application502 b might not want to inform the first application 502 a that thesecond application 502 b is present because the first application 502 amay be associated with a rival bank A (e.g., after the user selects therival bank A from the list of banks). In such a case, both the firstapplication 502 a and the second application 502 b may wish to identifythemselves (e.g., reveal information) to the other application if thetwo applications are associated with the same controller, but the twoapplications might not wish to identify themselves to the otherapplication if the two applications are not associated with the samecontroller.

In such a case, the first application 502 a may make available to thesecond application 502 b a piece of information indicating the identityof the first application 502 a and/or the identity (e.g., location) ofthe controller associated with the first application 502 a. According tosome aspects, this information may be in a protected or encrypted formatsuch that the controller associated with the first application 502 a maybe able to read the information, but the second application 502 b mightnot be able to read the information. For example, the controller 512 amay generate an encrypted record of the first application 502 a'sapplication identifier encrypted with a key K, where K may be known tothe controller 512 a and might not be known to the second application502 b. The controller 512 a may send this encrypted record to the firstapplication 502 a, which may then pass the encrypted record to thesecond application 502 b. The second application 502 b may then presentthis information to the second application 502 b's controller along withthe second application 502's enrollment request. According to someaspects, if the controller associated with the first application 502 aand the controller associated with the second application 502 b are thesame controller (e.g., controller 512 a), then the controller 512 a maybe able to decode the information transmitted by the second application502 b and may learn that the two applications 502 a and 502 b are on orexecuting on the same device. The controller 512 a may then associatethe two applications with each other (e.g., as discussed above).According to some aspects, if the controller of the first application502 a and the controller of the second application 502 b might not bethe same controller (e.g., controllers 512 a and 512 b), then thecontrollers 512 a and 512 b might not be able to make the associationbetween the two applications 502 a and 502 b and might not know thesetwo applications are on the same device. According to some aspects, thecontroller 512 a may issue a surrogate or alternative identity of thefirst application 502 a (e.g., additionally or alternatively to theencrypted record) to determine whether any other applications areassociated with the first application 502 a.

According to some aspects, two or more associated applications may beable to share data and policies between the associated applications. Forexample, a controller 512 a may provide a unified lock/unlock of anencrypted storage 508 or the sharing of network credentials via a singlesign on or via a sharing of information between applications. In such asituation, a wrapper 506 may provide a secure conduit for messages sentby one application 502 a to another application 502 b or for messagessent from one controller to a plurality of applications.

As illustrated in the discussion above, various aspects described hereinmay be embodied in various forms. For instance, various aspects may beembodied in a method, in a computing device, in computer-executableinstructions stored in a computer-readable medium, and/or in anapparatus.

In other examples, various aspects may be embodied in a computing devicethat includes at least one processor and memory storingcomputer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least oneprocessor, cause the computing device to perform any and/or all of thedescriptions, steps, processes, and/or methods discussed herein. Instill other examples, various aspects of the disclosure may be embodiedin one or more computer-readable media (which may, e.g., include anon-transitory computer-readable memory) storing instructions that, whenexecuted by at least one processor, cause the at least one processor toperform any and/or all of the descriptions, steps, processes, and/ormethods discussed herein. In yet other examples, various aspects of thedisclosure may be embodied in an apparatus comprising one or more meansfor performing any and/or all of the descriptions, steps, processes,and/or methods discussed herein.

What is claimed is:
 1. A method comprising: receiving, by a controllerservice from a client device, a request to associate a first applicationexecuting on the client device with the controller service, thecontroller service being configured to control the first application viaone or more policy instructions located on the client device andenforced by a mobility management system on the client device, whereineach policy file defines one or more restrictions enforced on or one ormore enablements granted to the first application by the mobilitymanagement system; transmitting, by the controller service to the clientdevice, authentication information configured to be used by the firstapplication to authenticate to a gateway device associated with thecontroller service; obtaining, by the controller service, a firstapplication identifier associated with the first application, the firstapplication identifier corresponding to a first set of the one or morepolicy instructions used to control the first application; receiving, bythe controller service from an application service, a request for afirst service and a conditional application identifier; responsive tothe conditional application identifier matching the first applicationidentifier, configuring, by the controller service and based on therequest for the first service, the first application with a second setof one or more policy instructions used to control the firstapplication; receiving, by the controller service, from a secondapplication a request to associate the second application executing onthe client device with the controller service and informationidentifying the first application that is different than the firstapplication identifier; obtaining by the controller service a secondapplication identifier associated with the second application; andassociating by the controller service the first application identifierwith the second application identifier.
 2. The method of claim 1,wherein obtaining the first application identifier associated with thefirst application further comprises generating, by the controllerservice, the first application identifier associated with the firstapplication.
 3. The method of claim 1, wherein obtaining the firstapplication identifier associated with the first application furthercomprises receiving, by the controller service from the client device,the first application identifier associated with the first application,wherein the first application identifier is generated by the clientdevice.
 4. The method of claim 1, wherein associating the firstapplication identifier with the second application identifier furthercomprises determining that the first application and the secondapplication are both executing on the client device.
 5. The method ofclaim 1, wherein the information identifying the first application isencrypted with a key known to the controller service and unknown to thesecond application.
 6. The method of claim 1, wherein the client devicedetermines a location of the controller service based on a level ofservice associated with the first application.
 7. A system, comprising:at least one processor; and at least one memory storingcomputer-readable instructions that, when executed by the at least oneprocessor, cause the system to perform: receiving, by a controllerservice from a client device, a request to associate a first applicationexecuting on the client device with the controller service, thecontroller service being configured to control the first application viaone or more policy instructions located on the client device andenforced by a mobility management system on the client device, whereineach policy file defines one or more restrictions enforced on or one ormore enablements granted to the first application by the mobilitymanagement system, wherein the client device determines a location ofthe controller service based on a level of service associated with thefirst application; obtaining, by the controller service, a firstapplication identifier associated with the first application, the firstapplication identifier corresponding to a first set of the one or morepolicy instructions used to control the first application; receiving, bythe controller service from an application service, a request for afirst service and a conditional application identifier; responsive tothe conditional application identifier matching the first applicationidentifier, configuring, by the controller service and based on therequest for the first service, the first application with a second setof one or more policy instructions used to control the firstapplication; receiving, by the controller service from a secondapplication, a request to associate the second application executing onthe client device with the controller service and informationidentifying the first application that is different than the firstapplication identifier; obtaining by the controller service a secondapplication identifier associated with the second application; andassociating by the controller service the first application identifierwith the second application identifier.
 8. The system of claim 7,wherein obtaining the first application identifier associated with thefirst application further comprises generating, by the controllerservice, the first application identifier associated with the firstapplication.
 9. The system of claim 7, wherein obtaining the firstapplication identifier associated with the first application furthercomprises receiving, by the controller service from the client device,the first application identifier associated with the first application,wherein the first application identifier is generated by the clientdevice.
 10. The system of claim 7, wherein associating the firstapplication identifier with the second application identifier furthercomprises determining that the first application and the secondapplication are both executing on the client device.
 11. The system ofclaim 7, wherein the information identifying the first application isencrypted with a key known to the controller service and unknown to thesecond application.
 12. One or more non-transitory computer-readablestorage media having computer-readable instructions stored thereon, thatwhen executed by one or more processors, cause the one or moreprocessors to perform: receiving, by a controller service from a clientdevice, a request to associate a first application executing on theclient device with the controller service, the controller service beingconfigured to control the first application via one or more policyinstructions located on the client device and enforced by a mobilitymanagement system on the client device, wherein each policy file definesone or more restrictions enforced on or one or more enablements grantedto the first application by the mobility management system, wherein theclient device determines a location of the controller service based on alevel of service associated with the first application; obtaining, bythe controller service, a first application identifier associated withthe first application, the first application identifier corresponding toa first set of the one or more policy instructions used to control thefirst application; receiving, by the controller service from anapplication service, a request for a first service and a conditionalapplication identifier; responsive to the conditional applicationidentifier matching the first application identifier, configuring, bythe controller service and based on the request for the first service,the first application with a second set of one or more policyinstructions used to control the first application; receiving, by thecontroller service from a second application, a request to associate thesecond application executing on the client device with the controllerservice and information identifying the first application that isdifferent than the first application identifier; obtaining by thecontroller service a second application identifier associated with thesecond application; and associating by the controller service the firstapplication identifier with the second application identifier.
 13. Thecomputer-readable storage media of claim 12, wherein obtaining the firstapplication identifier associated with the first application furthercomprises generating, by the controller service, the first applicationidentifier associated with the first application.
 14. Thecomputer-readable storage media of claim 12, wherein thecomputer-readable instructions further cause the one or more processorsto perform: receiving, by the controller service from the firstapplication, a request to associate a second application executing onthe client device with the controller service, the controller servicebeing configured to control the second application via one or morepolicy instructions; obtaining, by the controller service, a secondapplication identifier associated with the second application; andtransmitting, by the controller service to client device, the secondapplication identifier associated with the second application.